chapter 1

"Conner!" Keep walking. "Hey Conner!" I froze. "Can I talk to you?" I was the only one in the hallway. Damn. I turned around slowly and looked down at Pi Adani. He helped me with my math homework. He was probably the only reason I was passing. He kept me on the field during football season too.

"What's up Pi?" I already knew what he wanted. He wanted me to join his stupid Gay-Straight Alliance here at school. I already told him I wasn't gay.

"You told me to talk to you about the Gay-Straight Alliance when you were alone...and I saw you here...alone." He laughed a quick nervous chuckle and continued. "I just wanted to ask you to reconsider joining. And I know you don't want to join because you assume people will think you're, uh, gay, but it's a Gay-STRAIGHT Alliance."

"Pi, I just don't think I can..." He frowned. I didn't have a problem with Pi, but I just didn't think I could handle people assuming I was gay because I joined the club. I mean, their assumptions would be spot on, but I couldn't handle losing the normalcy that came with being straight.

"Oh, well...I just wanted to get it going before we graduated. You know it's only three months away!" He laughed his nervous chuckle again and continued. "Well, um, it might be able to help other teens here at school struggling with their sexualities."

"Shut it Adani, I don't ***ing care about you and the other homos here at school," I said as my two best friends entered the hallway. They stood around me and looked at Pi. I looked at him too. God, I was a dick. He looked like I had punched him in the chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry Conner," he said. He should not have been apologizing. I was the one who totally insulted him.

"Oh, I'm sorry Conner," said Lenny in a cheesy Indian accent. That was just racist. Pi didn't even have an accent.

"Fag," jeered Howie. He started tearing up. "You're ***ing crying?" This was why people killed themselves, when people said horrible stuff for no reason. He wiped his eyes and turned around. He walked away. Lenny and Howie were in hysterics. "We ***ing made him cry!" Howie exclaimed. "What a pussy!"

I decided to apologize and came up with something to show how sincere I was; I decided to join the Gay-Straight Alliance. I was looking for Pi when I spotted him in the lunch room.

He was sitting with Jo Hamilton. She was a lesbian and nobody talked to her except Pi and her girlfriend Sun Osmond. I waited until she left to talk to him. She hated me and shot sarcastic insults at me any chance she got.

"Pi, hey, what's up?" He looked at me and gave me a nervous half-smile.

"I...I'm sorry about bothering you so much. You don't have to talk to me anymore, and I'll just do your Pre-Cal homework if you'd like." When he apologized to me so much it drove me insane. It made me hate myself like nothing else in the entire world. "Just...Just stop picking on me. Please." My heart broke into a million pieces. He feared me. He hated me.

"Pi!" He had stood up and walked away from me. Howie bumped him and he dropped his tray. All the food on his tray was on his shoes. Everyone in the lunch room laughed. He just left the lunch room, not even looking back at me. I followed him even though he totally hated me. "Pi, wait!"

"Leave me alone!" he yelled at me angrily, and it actually made me feel better. He finally got angry at me. "My ***ing name isn't Pi! My name is Piki!"

"I...I'm," I began.

"No, no, no! You will not speak to me ever again. I don't care if you beat me up, or push me around, but I never...NEVER...want to hear your stupid voice again! You...you gande!" His face was filled with rage and his eyes showed me a hatred I didn't think he could possibly posses.

"I just wanted to apologize about..."

"Ahhhhh! What did I just tell you?" he asked. "You really are the biggest idiot in the whole school. You stupid gande! I hate you!" He was crying again. I walked over to him. He stepped back, but I just stepped closer. "Do not touch me!"

"I'm sorry about how I treated you." He was still crying. "Seriously, I am." He pushed me hard in the abdomen. I was pretty solid so it didn't really force me back, but he turned and sprinted down the hallway. The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I had class with him at the end of the day.